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Two New Orleans leather bars known for their cruising scenes have been hit in recent months with charges, fines, and a shutdown in sexual activity (which is barred in public venues by Louisiana State Laws). Some have assumed that the impositions on Phoenix and Rawhide 2010 have been politically motivated, perhaps the result of a homophobic witch hunt (“an attack on one of us is an attack on all us,” read a message posted by Phoenix management on the bar’s Facebook in February), but a recent article in New Orleans LGBTQ magazineAmbush paints a more nuanced picture of investigations arising from direct complaints that are the result of community in-fighting and sexual discrimination.

Journalist Frank Perez’s impressively deep dive into the issues at hand hypothesizes that the investigations were kicked off as a result of disgruntlement after women were turned away at the door of Rawhide. Perez reports that Rawhide, the first of the two bars to be investigated and fined, was reported to the New Orleans Police Department on September 6, 2018, in a complaint that claimed the establishment allowed “lewd public sex acts,” sex work, and drug use. That was days after last year’s Southern Decadenceweekend, a notoriously libidinous annual multi-day celebration in New Orleans. That weekend found multiple instances of women being turned away from Rawhide. In the early hours of September 2 (a Sunday), a woman who was not allowed entry was heard shouting outside the bar by patrons, “I will call and have this place shut down.”

Then, on Sunday afternoon, a group of three women weren’t allowed entry when they tried to attend a leather and kink demonstration the bar was holding. The event was put up by Crescent City Leathermen and had been advertised as open to all. One of the members in that group, whose name I won’t print here in an attempt to spare her future Google results, wrote on Facebook that she had been denied entry “because of my genitals, which are covered by clothes by the way. The only excuse I was given was ‘Well…it’s Southern Decadence’ which makes no sense at all.” In a follow-up message to former Rawhide manager John Breaux, the woman, a member of the leather community, said she had formerly performed a rope demonstration at Rawhide and “not once did my vagina or breasts affect a single one of the patrons.” (This woman is not the assumed whistleblower—Breaux theorized that it was one of her friends.)

Louisana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control Deputy Commissioner Ernest P. Leiger, Jr., would not provide the name of the person who filed the initial complaint (the NOPD referred the case to the ATC, which took over the investigation). Perez was unable to confirm exactly who lodged the complaint, so connecting it to the incidents of women being turned away is informed speculation (Perez admits as much in his piece).

Soon after the Rawhide complaint was filed, the ATC performed a compliance check, in which an underage operative was sold a beer without being carded, and several undercover investigations, in which agents witnessed (and recorded with hidden cameras, which is legal and according to protocol, said Leiger) sex acts, hardcore gay porn on multiple TV sets, pup play and popper use. At a December 19, 2018, hearing, Rawhide was cited with 12 violations (eight counts of pornography on television, four counts of sexual activity on the premises) and fined $6750. The bar was made to close for a week and put on a 60-day probation.

The investigation of rival bar Phoenix, the result of a complaint filed on December 4, 2018, was a direct result of Rawhide owner Tom Wood’s inquiries at his hearing. Leiger told Perez:

“Prior to and following the hearing, the ownership of Rawhide complained of similar activity in neighboring clubs, including the Phoenix. More specifically, he felt his business interests were suffering because the clientele felt more comfortable patronizing the Phoenix. Commissioner [Juana Marine-Lombard] accepted his statements as a complaint and assured Rawhide’s ownership that the agency would investigate. Obviously, Phoenix was investigated and violations were cited.”

Wood did not deny this. He told Perez:

“At the ATC hearing, we inquired about why the Phoenix was given a courtesy call and we were being shut down. We were informed that the Phoenix had no violations and there were complaints about us for prostitution, drugs, and serving minors. When I realized they were giving the green light for the Phoenix to take our business and my employees’ jobs, I cried foul. I am responsible for the employment of almost 100 people and will always do what’s best to protect them as we have for almost five decades.”

Phoenix underwent a similar series of investigations (again a compliance check found an underage operative able to buy beer) and was charged with three counts of porn, 14 counts of led acts, and two of serving alcohol to minors. The bar was fined $3,000 and given a 60-day probation period. Additionally, after Wood’s initial inquiry, Phoenix was visited by various officials six more times because of complaints called in that called out smoking, pornography on screens, and fire safety issues. Perez reports that “a source close to the investigation confirms that at least one of he complaints came from a rival bar owner.”

Via his investigation, Perez concludes that the bars were not targeted as a result of a homophobic agenda. Among the reasons he believes this he cites are that the ATC cited 15 heterosexual bars for similar violations, and that these bars could have been shut down as the result of all of these recent charges but were not. Additionally, the city has exhibited a relaxed sort of attitude toward them: “Earlier in September of 2018, during a routine compliance check at the Phoenix, ATC authorities strongly suggested they remove the sling from upstairs because of potential health code violations, but no citations were issued to the bar.”

Perez writes that an upside to this scrutiny is that ATC Commissioner Juana Marine-Lombard “is willing to open a dialogue to hear and address the concerns so many in our community have,” and that Both Phoenix owner Clint Taylor and Vincenzo Pasquantonio, executive director of the mayor’s Human Relations Commission, are convinced that Commissioner Lombard is open to exploring possible solutions to the dilemma both bars are now facing.” Both bars’ business has dropped after the investigations, presumably because they can no longer the sexual atmosphere that they once did.

Perez’s story is not just well-researched procedural journalism, it’s a straightforward narrative that acts like a Russian nesting doll of several hot-button issues within the LGBTQ community—women in gay bars designated for men, community in-fighting, public-sex spaces (and their continued illegality). Well worth a read (it starts here on Page 24).

Best Site CommentsThe 1000 Daps ClubSupporter

I didn’t attend gay parades, public events, etc. until a few years ago... and almost immediately stopped. Why? Because the gay pride parade in Chicago is treated as mini-Mardi Gras by straights, Beckys and white liberal virtue signalers. Gay people are supposed to be jigaboo performers for drunk straight white college students and yuppies or act as objects of curiosity for the “I would have voted for Obama a third time” crowd. Yeah, I know about local leather bars, Castro, Southern Decadence, Blatino Oasis, etc. Not my thing, but for those it is, leave them the fuck alone...

All that to say, I hope gay/bi men didn’t think they would escape the wrath of the hyper-privileged, white female #MeToo crowd. And it’s mostly a white thing. Black women go to New Orleans/LA for the Essence festival, happy to own their own activities, and ain’t thinking about what an outsider (to them) group like the leather crowd is doing at other venues. Privileged AOC types are like Goldilocks and want in on everything they don’t even like such as leather bars, out of curiosity and the ability to control (“it’s miiiiiiiiiiiiine!”)

In the future, gay/bi of leather may want to have gatherings in homes or private venues to avoid “public accommodations” civil rights law turned on its head to benefit angry, privileged white women. The International MISTER Leather Man event is coming up next month in Chicago. We’ll see if the “I want it in even if I don’t like it” crowd fucks that up.

Squad VeteranMost Valuable PlayerThe 1000 Daps ClubSupporter

I didn’t attend gay parades, public events, etc. until a few years ago... and almost immediately stopped. Why? Because the gay pride parade in Chicago is treated as mini-Mardi Gras by straights, Beckys and white liberal virtue signalers. Gay people are supposed to be jigaboo performers for drunk straight white college students and yuppies or act as objects of curiosity for the “I would have voted for Obama a third time” crowd. Yeah, I know about local leather bars, Castro, Southern Decadence, Blatino Oasis, etc. Not my thing, but for those it is, leave them the fuck alone...

All that to say, I hope gay/bi men didn’t think they would escape the wrath of the hyper-privileged, white female #MeToo crowd. And it’s mostly a white thing. Black women go to New Orleans/LA for the Essence festival, happy to own their own activities, and ain’t thinking about what an outsider (to them) group like the leather crowd is doing at other venues. Privileged AOC types are like Goldilocks and want in on everything they don’t even like such as leather bars, out of curiosity and the ability to control (“it’s miiiiiiiiiiiiine!”)

In the future, gay/bi of leather may want to have gatherings in homes or private venues to avoid “public accommodations” civil rights law turned on its head to benefit angry, privileged white women. The International MISTER Leather Man event is coming up next month in Chicago. We’ll see if the “I want it in even if I don’t like it” crowd fucks that up.

Also, Jezebel is the beckiest of all Becky sites...

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All this! But, a large part of the blame falls on all of the gay men who are just one of the girls and can't even go to a gay bar/club (one of the ONLY places that LITERALLY caters to their 'demo') w/o their gaggle of good Judys.

I'm leaving the rest of this alone because I'm exhausted from reading about 'the gays' and 'sex' in the same headline. Call me crazy, but like Dr. King, I too have a dream, that one day, gay people will be able to have activities and events, and even articles and stories, that aren't accompanied by sex parties, and tales thereof.

Best Site CommentsThe 1000 Daps ClubSupporter

All this! But, a large part of the blame falls on all of the gay men who are just one of the girls and can't even go to a gay bar/club (one of the ONLY places that LITERALLY caters to their 'demo') w/o their gaggle of good Judys.

I'm leaving the rest of this alone because I'm exhausted from reading about 'the gays' and 'sex' in the same headline. Call me crazy, but like Dr. King, I too have a dream, that one day, gay people will be able to have activities and events, and even articles and stories, that aren't accompanied by sex parties, and tales thereof.

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So you’re saying we should all be Log Cabin Republicans?

Lol. I feel your pain, I just think the middle road and people shouldn’t expect gay men to be sexless or always speedo bearing hot dogs. I like to think I’m sex positive but I’ve been around long enough to see feminists become just as anti-consenting adults as the Moral Majority, so I have no problem telling the Lena Dunham’s of the world to go pound sand as much as the Jerry Fallwells.

But yeah, I never hung around dudes with that stereotypical La Cage Aux Folles behavior and I’ve never been to bathhouse or leather bar because I had enough of being around other people’s (oft literally) shit in closed spaces in basic training.

Squad VeteranMost Valuable PlayerThe 1000 Daps ClubSupporter

Lol. I feel your pain, I just think the middle road and people shouldn’t expect gay men to be sexless or always speedo bearing hot dogs. I like to think I’m sex positive but I’ve been around long enough to see feminists become just as anti-consenting adults as the Moral Majority, so I have no problem telling the Lena Dunham’s of the world to go pound sand as much as the Jerry Fallwells.

But yeah, I never hung around dudes with that stereotypical La Cage Aux Folles behavior and I’ve never been to bathhouse or leather bar because I had enough of being around other people’s (oft literally) shit in closed spaces in basic training.

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I'm def not advocating for you gays to lose even one of your 75 hookup apps. I'm just tired of it being so difficult to come across a gay focused topic/event/space that's not associated w sex. If it's not some gays trying to normalize sex acts somewhere random/public, it's some event culminating in a sex party (ies), or it's an article abt the spike in new HIV/STD cases in some region.

It's just like, do these mofos go bowling? To comedy shows? To clothing mandatory local bars?